A closely watched bill that some said had the potential to impact the multi-billion dollar adult film industry in California died in a Senate committee Thursday without discussion.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall III, D-Los Angeles, who authored AB 1576, said his legislation would have expanded workplace protections for all adult film workers by requiring the use of condoms and other barrier protections during production shoots anywhere in California. The bill also would have further supported the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Act’s safety standards.

Cal/OSHA is tasked with enforcing the existing condom requirement, but the workplace safety agency mostly responds to complaints, and Hall said adult film workers rarely complain if they believe it will mean they can’t work.

“Here is the dirty little secret about porn production in California: It’s just work,” Hall said. “Take away the racy titles and creative storylines found in many of these films and adult film actors become, well, just workers.”

Hall said he was disappointed that the bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee but added that he remained committed to protecting the health and safety of all California workers.

“AB 1576 wouldn’t have changed existing law, but it would have helped increase industry compliance in protecting its workers,” he said.

Members of the Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition, the trade association that represents the adult film industry, disagreed with the bill’s intent, saying Hall was using it to exploit performers for political gain. The industry, the group has said, already has been affected by voter-approved Measure B, which requires that adult-film performers wear condoms during sex scenes shot in L.A. County. The measure passed almost two years ago, and since then, many production companies have left the area and film permits have dropped by 90 percent, according to published reports.

The industry has been estimated to be worth $6 billion in California and $11 billion nationwide and is believed to have created 10,000 production jobs in the county, including makeup, lighting, carpentry, transportation, food service, payroll, web design and acting.

More than 500 adult film performers reportedly signed a petition opposing AB 1576. In addition, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, AIDS Project Los Angeles and many other groups opposed parts of the proposed legislation because it required mandatory HIV testing. In their argument, the groups said such a requirement should not be used in an overall employment context.

Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, called Hall’s bill an assault on the industry. She has said the industry has long relied on its own testing standard for sexually transmitted diseases. Performers must clear all tests before working.

“The assault had unintended consequences — it unified performers and producers in ways that we haven’t seen in decades,” Duke said in a statement. “Out of this grows a stronger industry, one not intimidated by harassment campaigns like AB 1576. But the battle is not actually over, for we must always work to make sure our productions are safe and legal, that our performers have a strong voice in their own sexual health, and to keep a thriving industry in California.”

Dan Leal, owner of Immoral Productions in Chatsworth, said his studios are condom only.

Since Measure B passed, he has had visits by the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Cal-OSHA, all because of complaints that performers didn’t use condoms. He has said the federal and state laws have given him little choice if he wants to keep his company in Los Angeles.

“Even though I’m a condom-only set, I was opposed to the bill,” Leal said. “The state doesn’t need its own law and California doesn’t have the money to enforce it. I think it’s a waste of money for Californians.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation supported Hall’s bill, and created Measure B. Michael Weinstein, executive director of the AHF, said his organization would support another bill next year.

“Regardless of whether AB 1576 became law this year, condom use already is — and has been — the law in California under existing Cal/OSHA authority,” Weinstein said in a statement. “The porn industry has simply chosen to ignore these laws, with few, if any, repercussions to date for producers.”

Weinstein said Cal/OSHA has been overhauling and expanding regulations that would cover the adult film industry.

“When enacted later this fall, these updated OSHA regulations could, in fact, make the need for a bill like AB 1576 moot,” he said.

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